What your VCs are really measuring - and why partners are your secret weapon! ;)
When we're trying to get investment in partners, it's important to understand that your VC investors are watching three numbers more closely than your revenue growth. These are the numbers that affect your company valuation and they therefore come first. Then comes revenue. And partner revenue makes up just one portion of overall revenue. So, it's easy to see why investment in partners is often difficult to achieve - it's nowhere near top of mind at board level.
The years of cheap money and 'growth at all costs,' have gone. When I was talking to a very senior partner sales leader recently, she said that VCs have fundamentally shifted what they're measuring and their focus. They could no longer buy, strip and flip and sell on. Now they are having to work the businesses they've bought to get a better return.
And they're looking at something called capital efficiency. If you're working in partner marketing, you might be less familiar with this term and it's probably not something you've thought much about. But your board are thinking about it all the time.
The good news for us in the partner sector is - partner-led growth offers the fastest path to the metrics they're tracking. Faster than direct business.
Here's the 3 core metrics your board will be tracking and why they matter:
1. CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
What it is: How much you spend to acquire one customer.
Why it matters: This shows whether your go to market strategy is sustainable or just burning cash.
What VCs want to see:
Enterprise SaaS: CAC should be recovering in <12 months (it was 18 months in 2020)
Ideally, it should decline over time as you scale
Where most companies struggle: Direct sales teams are expensive. Every new customer requires the same sales effort, a similar cost structure, and sales cycles stay stagnant. This means that CAC is harder to improve as you scale – it often stays flat or gets worse.
Here's where partners help you win!
According to Bessemer Venture Partners' research on SaaS channel partnerships, partner-sourced customers typically cost 40-60% less to acquire than direct sales.
Why? Because partners already have the relationships with customers. They're having the conversations anyway. Your solution then becomes part of their existing sales motion, not the cold prospecting exercise your direct sales team are going through.
This means your partner sales cycles are shorter, they tend to win more business because they already hold the relationship, and their deal sizes are bigger. All of that leads to improved CAC metrics.
2. Burn Multiple
What it is: Net Burn ÷ Net New ARR
Why it matters: This shows how efficiently you're converting cash into revenue.
According to Airtree Ventures (citing David Sacks' widely-used benchmarks), this has become THE efficiency metric in 2025.
Where most companies struggle: If you're spending (burning) £400k/month and adding £200k in new monthly ARR. That's a 2.0x burn multiple. It's not terrible, but it's also not great. To improve it, you have two options. You can either spend less to reduce the burn. This means cutting people or investment - a risky strategy and one which impacts morale and efficiency, too. OR you can add ARR without spending more. How do you do that? Through partners, of course!
Here's the partner advantage:
Partners add revenue WITHOUT requiring proportional increases in your burn rate.
Example:
Current: £400k burn, £200k new ARR/month → 2.0x multiple
Add partners contributing £100k ARR/month
New: £450k burn (modest partner program costs), £300k new ARR/month → 1.5x multiple
This moves your numbers from 'good' to 'excellent' on a metric your VCs check every board meeting.
3. Magic Number (GTM Efficiency)
If you've hung on in until here, well done - none of this is easy to get through. But if you're in partner marketing and you want board level buy-in - it's super important!
What it is: Net New ARR ÷ Sales & Marketing Spend (quarterly)
Why it matters: Your magic number shows whether your got to market engine is actually working. A score of 0.75-1 is considered healthy, more than 1 is excellent. (It's also worth noting that many SaaS companies hover around 0.5, but still, improvement is what we want to see.)
Where most companies struggle: Here's an example again. If you're spending £900k/quarter on sales and marketing and generating £700k in new ARR, your Magic Number is 0.78. That's ok, but nothing to celebrate.
The partner multiplier effect:
Partners amplify your sales and marketing spend. You still need to invest in their enablement, campaigns, and support – but THEY do the selling. So going back to our example:
Baseline: £900k sales & marketing spend → £700k new ARR → 0.78 Magic Number
Add partner program: £100k investment
Partners deliver: £400k additional ARR
£1M sales & marketing spend → £1.1M new ARR → 1.1 Magic Number
You move from 'acceptable' to 'excellent' – and so does the mood of your board! ;)
Why does all this matter?
In short - all these metrics affect the company's valuation. According to Hive Hatch's 2025 research: 'The median ARR multiple for early-stage SaaS deals stands at roughly 6.8x, a steep drop from the 15x-plus peaks recorded earlier.' What does that actually mean in real terms?
It means that your next company valuation will be based on the 3 metrics in this blog more than revenue growth. Investors are now interested in paying for efficiency, not just growth.
According to research on SaaS channel strategies, industry leaders typically achieve 50-70% of revenue through partners. So if your partner revenue is only at 20-30%, you're leaving efficiency gains on the table as well as revenue.
The cost of not investing in partners isn't just the revenue you miss then - it's the valuation multiples your board is sacrificing.
What does this mean for you?
Companies that are focusing on these metrics in 2025 share some common traits:
Partners contribute 50% or more of overall revenue
Partner CAC is 40-60% lower than direct business
They can articulate the exact partner contribution to key metrics
They understand their Partner Value Proposition
They have systematic partner marketing enablement and support.
They've built the business case that got board approval
They didn't get there by accident. They got there by:
1. Understanding what the VCs on their board are measuring
2. Building the proof that partner investment improves those metrics
3. Getting board approval for proper partner investment
4. Executing systematically, not hoping partners just continue to grow on their own.
All of this means partners are probably the most underutilised efficiency lever you have, and the simplest way to affect the metrics your board cares about.
At Archer Agency, we help VC-backed SaaS companies translate partner strategy into the capital efficiency metrics that unlock board approval. We've spent 20 years in the channel trenches and understand what your partners want and how to talk to your board to deliver it. Are you ready to build your business case for partner investment? Then let's talk - gemma@archeragency.co.uk